Recognizing the Psychological and Cultural Strengths of Black Americans: Integrating Black Wellbeing in Practice

This book examines the cultural beliefs and practices of Black folks in relation to psychological strength.

Divided into four parts, the book begins with a discussion on the history of African civilizations, including an analysis of faiths, architecture, and cultural diversity of the continent, followed by a meaningful dialogue on the history of slavery and plantations in North America. The later sections are a study on the contribution of the African American community towards America’s prosperity. The book explores cultural values as a source of power, and uses historical, social, and psychological research to construct a framework of Black cultural values and psychological resolve. The author offers practical applications and interventions to demonstrate how this framework can be applied to training and policy matters on both individual and systemic levels.

Recognizing the Psychological and Cultural Strengths of Black Americans is essential reading for students and academics in the fields of Psychology, Sociology, Critical Race Theory, Political Science, and other related disciplines. It will also be a useful resource for professionals including policy makers, psychologist, counsellors, educators, and social workers.

Robert T. Carter is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Education at the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He has devoted his career to issues of race and culture as they impact primarily people of color. He is known internationally for his work on racism, race-based traumatic stress, and racial identity ego statuses. He has authored more than 130 articles and 9 books. More recently he writes about the traumatic stress effects of racial discrimination and Black culture.